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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733414">A Steve McGarrett Thanksgiving</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucybun/pseuds/lucybun'>lucybun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>And the Hits Verse [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hawaii Five-0 (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ALL THE FLUFF, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, Thanksgiving, quick holiday fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:27:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,258</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733414</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucybun/pseuds/lucybun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A fluffy little story about the first Thanksgiving the guys have as a couple. Set in my post-finale verse, but it can probably be read on its own.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>And the Hits Verse [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024804</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>116</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Steve McGarrett Thanksgiving</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Finally, a happy story in this verse! This is all fluff, y'all. I threw this together in about two hours, so I'm sure it's full of mistakes. I wanted to get it posted before Thanksgiving was over though, so my apologies.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He knew the day was going to be hard on Steve. Not that his friend had spent Thanksgiving with his mother in a long, long time, and, for all Danny knew, he’d never spent it with Joe. Still, it was a time for family, a time for thinking about all the good things you have, a time for thinking, whether you want to or not, about all of the things that you’ve lost. Danny was very familiar with the lost things — lost dreams, lost opportunities, lost people — that Steve would be missing this holiday. So, in an effort to be a good friend (”A good <i>boyfriend</i>,” a little voice whispered.), he’d wanted to find a good memory for Steve to think about too. It was, if he did say so himself, a lovely idea. The execution of it, though….</p><p>First, it had been difficult as all hell to even find a special memory for Steve. He was typically mum on the subject and, though he was working on being more open, he got even more reticent when he was pushed to talk about his mom or Joe. Which left Danny trying to covertly coax Thanksgiving info from a trained government operative who didn’t want to give it up. Basically all that Steve would tell him is that they usually ate outside on the lanai, and they usually had pork instead of turkey because Doris thought turkey was always dry. The detective knew that was absolute nonsense. Turkey wasn’t dry if you treated it right, but Doris never seemed the type who would bother trying to finesse a classic just because it was traditional. It was another minus in the Doris column that had been piling up for eight or so years. It was a big pile.</p><p>Since Steve was treating his nostalgia like it was the key to nuclear codes, Danny decided to go to the next best source. Mary was much more willing to share, but her memories were a little fuzzy. Doris had left when she was just a kid, so she didn’t really know what exactly her mom always cooked or how to cook any of it if she’d even remembered. She agreed that they did always eat on the lanai and that they didn’t eat turkey, but that was about it. Danny was so disappointed right up until she started talking about Thanksgivings with Deb instead. Why Danny hadn’t thought of that himself, he’d never know. Probably because he never got to spend enough time with Deb, and Steve made it seem like his time with Deb and Mary had been brief and sporadic. He wouldn’t have thought he got a lot of holidays at home.</p><p>And it turns out that was true, but he’d had at least one. That holiday, Mary remembered perfectly. Steve got two weeks leave right before Thanksgiving, so he stayed all the way through the end of the month. It was the closest either of them got to a “traditional” holiday in their lives, and it stood out as a nugget of joy in both of their memories. </p><p>“So, what did you do back then? Was there anything he really enjoyed?” Danny asked her on the Friday before Thanksgiving. “Help me out here, Mary.” </p><p>“I mean, we enjoyed everything. It was so weird for all of us because things were kind of perfect. We had the full Turkey Day experience then we watched <i>Christmas Vacation</i>, mostly for the turkey scene. We even had mulled cider that night. Deb went all out.” Her smile was tinged with just a slight bit of sadness, but it was mostly happy. It was a good memory for her, and it was a good time of year to think about how lucky she’d been to have Deb in her life. “You know what though? That’s one thing that Steve really enjoyed.”</p><p>“What? The apple cider?” He’d never been so excited about apples in his life.</p><p>“Yeah! He liked it so much that Deb made it again before he left. We pretty much let him have all of it.” She smiled thinking about how the Steve from those few days had been all gangly limbs and reluctant grins. The navy had almost finished transforming him by then, and that holiday had been the last glimpse she’d had of <i>her</i> Steve for years. Until Danny had come along, actually. </p><p>“Any idea what actually went into the cider?” He sounded so hopeful that Mary hated telling him she had no idea.</p><p>“I was a teenager with a chip on my shoulder. I wasn’t exactly interested in the domestic arts.”</p><p>“The domestic arts? Where do you come up with this shit, Mary?”</p><p>“I don’t know, but this is a good time to think about how grateful you are for it. You’d be so bored without my shit.” He didn’t even bother to deny it. “All I remember is that it was apple, it was sweet, and there was a cinnamon stick in it. Oh, and some little brown flower looking things were floating in there too.”</p><p>“There were flowers in it?” He sounded scandalized.</p><p>“No, it wasn’t flowers. They were hard little things. To be honest, Danny, it looked like she’d dumped some potpourri in there. There was something orange in it too, I think.”</p><p>“Is it possible it was an orange?” He tried not to sound like he was speaking to an idiot when he asked, but he didn’t quite pull it off.</p><p>Mary rolled her eyes. “No, it was just pieces of orange stuff, not an actual orange.”</p><p>“Was it possibly a cut up orange or some orange peel?”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah! I bet it was orange peel. Why would you just put the peel in there though? Maybe it was potpourri. Deb wasn’t exactly Ina Garten.”</p><p>Danny grinned. “The peel’s where the flavor is, Mar-Bear.”</p><p>“Hey! Don’t call me that, asshole!”</p><p>“You know you love it. And now is a good time to think about how grateful you are for all of my shit. You’d be so bored without it.” He couldn’t help the way his grin had turned sly.</p><p>Mary was not impressed. “Ha freaking ha. Seriously though, that’s all that I remember. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“No, that’s okay. It’s helped a lot, I mean it. Thank you." With that, he took off, mumbling something about real cinnamon sticks under his breath. </p><p>She really was thankful that her brother had found Daniel Williams.</p><p>((((((((((((((((((((H50))))))))))))))))))))</p><p>Thanksgiving Day was sunny and beautiful, as usual. Danny still missed the trees changing color and feeling dried leaves under his feet and his ma’s mashed potatoes that he never, ever got quite right even though he made them just like hers; but when he looked around at his friends and family playing their annual football game in the park, he knew he’d miss this even more if he ever had to give it up. Judging by the expression on Steve’s face, he felt the same way. He looked happy and healthy. He looked content, and Danny wasn’t sure he’d actually seen Steve look like that before. It made him even more beautiful, and he really hadn’t thought that was possible.</p><p>Later, when they all gathered around the massive outdoor table at Harry’s house, Danny felt more at ease than he had since before he’d met Rachel. Somehow, the people around him and this stupid-ass island had become his home. He’d never admit it, but he knew Steve saw right through him. Slinging his arm around Danny and kissing his temple, the taller man sighed happily. </p><p>Danny was intent on making him even happier though. He needed to give Steve something special, something that showed him that Danny loved him and wanted him to have good memories. So, that evening, after everyone but Mary, Joanie, Charlie, and Grace had left, Danny pulled up <i>Christmas Vacation</i> on the tv. Nobody but Mary noticed his self-satisfied little smile when Steve said, “Hey! I love this one!” and hummed along with the opening credits. By the time Clark Griswold was trapped in his attic, the commander was so engrossed by the movie that he barely noticed when Danny disappeared into the kitchen.</p><p>The detective came back through a few minutes later with a tray of mugs, all filled with the most delicious spiced cider he’d ever tasted, thank you very much. Mary paused the movie, watching Steve for his reaction once he figured out what Danny had. When the movie stopped, he blinked, finally realizing his partner was standing in front of him holding out a cup instead of snuggling into this side. He slowly took a sip of the drink, looking down at the cinnamon stick and star anise floating around in it, and it was like being back with Deb and Mary all those years ago. Before he met Danny, that Thanksgiving had been the best he’d ever had. Now here his partner was, somehow recreating Steve’s favorite parts of one of the most special days of his life. He thought his heart might explode. When Danny sat back down beside him, leaning against his arm and blowing across the top of his own drink, all Steve could do was look at him out of the corner of his eye and thank him in a strangled voice. He was overcome with love and gratitude and all the other good feelings. He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt anything precisely like it. It was a goddamn Hallmark moment, and his fragile little heart could barely stand it.</p><p>Later that evening, after the movie was over and they’d shuffled Grace and Charlie off to bed, Steve dragged Danny to their room and kissed the breath out of him. “I don’t need a special day to make me grateful for you, Danno, because I’m so grateful for you all the time. I don’t know where I’d be without you. I don’t know <i>who</i> I’d be without you.” And since he didn’t exactly disagree with the sentiment, Danny just hugged him harder and enjoyed the moment. They stood swaying for a while before Steve kissed his ear and whispered, “I have something for you too. Be right back.”</p><p>He was gone just long enough for Danny to wash his face and brush his teeth. Finally, he strode back in with a huge smile on his face, holding something behind his back. “Close your eyes!”</p><p>Danny played along, right after he rolled his eyes, of course. “It’s not Christmas yet, you know.”</p><p>“I know what the day is, buddy,” Steve replied in a voice that meant he wasn’t going to rise to the bait. “You can look now.”</p><p>When Danny opened his eyes, he nearly did a double-take. He was absolutely floored. “Steve,” he gasped, “is, is that what I think it is?”</p><p>“Do you think it’s the traditional topper from the Williams Family Christmas Tree?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he whispered, gently taking the angel in his hands. “Yes,” he went on, settling at his normal volume again. “Oh my God, how did you get this? What’s going on? Is something wrong? Is my mother dying? You have to tell me, Steve. You can’t keep shit like that from me.”</p><p>“Pump the brakes, man. Nobody’s dying.” He was trying not to laugh because he didn’t want to be a dick, but Danny could be ridiculous sometimes. It was one of the things Steve loved best about him.</p><p>Danny’s brain seemed to kick in after that. “Did my mother send you that?” he asked, eyes narrowing as they examined his partner.</p><p>Steve nodded. “She did.”</p><p>There were a million things Danny still didn’t understand about what was going on, but most of them were covered by one question. “Why?”</p><p>“Because she’s not going to need it this year.”</p><p>“You just said she was fine!” </p><p>“She is fine,” he was quick to reassure him. “She’s not going to need it because she’s not putting up a tree this year because she’s going to be here in Honolulu with us! Your whole family is! The Williams Family Christmas Tree is going to be in Hawaii this year.” He was bouncing on his toes and his eyes were shining with excitement.</p><p>Danny was as close to speechless as he’d ever been, but in a really good way. “Steve, I don’t know what to say,” he admitted, swallowing convulsively a few times. “You’re gonna make me cry, jerk wad. I don’t know how you managed it, but I can’t think of a better gift than having all of my family here. Thank you, babe. I mean it, thank you so much. I love you.”</p><p>Steve just beamed at him. “I love you too, Danno. Happy Thanksgiving, booboo.”</p><p>Danny sat the rather ornate tree topper on his nightstand and turned back to his love. “Happy Thanksgiving to you too, G.I. Joe.”</p><p>“You’re trying to irritate me, but it’s not gonna work. I’m immune.” He certainly seemed to be the opposite of irritated when he took Danny back into his arms.</p><p>“You’re immune, huh? Immune? How do you figure that?” he asked, burying his face in the front of the larger man’s soft, plaid shirt</p><p>Steve was smiling, enjoying their banter, but there was something more there too. Satisfaction perhaps? Maybe even joy? Definitely love. Lots and lots of love. “I’m immune because I’m too happy to be bothered right now.” </p><p>Danny mulled that one over. “Huh. You might have a point.”</p><p>“It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!”</p><p>“Oh, shut up and kiss me, you turkey.” </p><p>And he did.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! I hope everybody had a great Thursday and a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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